it means the absence of what benefits him, for most of what harms him consists in the absence of what benefits him. Such absence is addressed only by securing the presence of what benefits him. At other times, something that exists harms him; he hates nothing about it except the harm it causes him, which consists in depriving him of pleasure or causing him suffering.

If it is said:

“What you have stated faces an objection: from beginning to end, the Quran commands piety and urges it, so much so that nothing is mentioned in the Quran more frequently. It is Allah’s counsel to the earlier and later generations, the hallmark of His allies, and the first call of the prophets and of those who attain the good end and occupy the seat of honour—among its many other attributes.

“Piety means refraining from what is prohibited. Sahl ibn ‘Abd Allāh said:

‘Both the righteous and the wicked perform good deeds, but only one truly steadfast in faith can persevere in abstaining from sins.’

“There is more praise of scrupulousness and those who practise it, and of asceticism and its adherents, than space here permits us to recount. Yet all this comes down to refraining from forbidden acts, disliked acts, and unnecessary indulgence in permissible things. These are more akin to the category of things one is instructed to refrain from than to the category of things one is commanded to do. People recount virtues and merits of those who practise such scrupulousness that they do not recount of others.”